Comsatec, a Callander-based energy management firm, is joining the parade of companies heading up to the new business park at North Bay’s Jack Garland Airport.
The company will build a 20,000-squarefoot hangar this spring to provide leasing space opportunities for aircraft.
Comsatec principal and founder Paul Waque Sr. believes North Bay has great potential to be an aviation transportation hub and a staging base for future development in the Far North.
“We don’t intend to be competitive with anyone that’s already doing business in North Bay, but we will develop new business to the First Nation communities and the mining industry.”
Last July, North Bay city council approved the sale of three acres of airside property to Comsatec with an option for an additional 1.3 acres.
The pre-engineered building has been purchased and Don Seguin Contracting of North Bay will be erecting the hangar once the ground thaws, likely April 1.
Waque figures it will be available for leasing by early August.
The project represents a $2.5-million investment for Comsatec with a possibility of a further $1 million contribution coming from the province.
Waque, who started his company in 1988 in the basement of his Callander home, outside North Bay, said the hangar development has nothing to do with their main business of being an agent and consultant for industrial and large commercial energy consumers.
“We wanted to diversify and we see business that North Bay is missing out on,” said Waque, who once apprenticed in his younger days as a jet engine mechanic for KLM Airlines.
Aviation has always been a sideline venture for Comsatec, which leases three Bell Ranger helicopters to Helicopters Canada in North Bay.
With space for Dash 8 aircraft, Waque said there will be leasing opportunities and more than 7,200 square feet of combined office space in the building.
“We want office space available for any aviation company that has need for it while parking their aircraft or doing business with us.”
The hangar also has the potential to handle freight. Bay doors in the building’s design provide for a truck unloading area to allow forklifts to load aircraft.
Waque said no tenants have been firmed up yet, but he has been getting a number of interested calls from outside North Bay.
Since the opening of the airport’s 600-acre industrial park last June, three other companies have made the trek up Airport Hill to the new development.
Already on-site are mining manufacturer Drillers Edge, Barrie Hard Chrome Plating and Mine Hoists International. But Comsatec is the first tenant with airside access.
Jack Garland Airport has become a major economic driver in North Bay in hosting more than 30 businesses and government operations with a permanent and seasonal workforce of as many as 500.
An upcoming $2-million passenger terminal expansion will provide more counter space, another gate, and a larger passenger holding and screening area with the idea of attracting another passenger carrier to North Bay.
